Cabinet construction



Feb. 26, 1957 J. G. YORK CABINET CONSTRUCTION 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 12, 1955 mama/v a yak/g ATTORNEY Feb. 26, 1957 J. G. YORK 2,783,115

CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed July 12, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 3 I l l IN VENTOR ATTORNEY 2,783,115 CABINET CONSTRUCTION Jackson G. York, Arlington,--Va., assignor, by direct and nesne assignments, to-York Research and Development Corporation, Washington, D. C,, a'corporation of Dela \ware' v Application July12, 1955, Serial No. 521,508

' 8 Claims. cl. 312-425 The present invention relates to a cabinet construe-i tion and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts herein described and claimed.

Generally there is provided a cabinet constructionin which there is provided a door to the rear face'of which is connected a pair of panels, the panels being, in turn, hingedly connected to a cabinet or other enclosure, In one form of the invention there is provided a medicine cabinet having the present invention attached theretoand in which case the door may be manipulated by one knob attached to the front face thereof adjacent one side thereof in such manner that it pivots upon the side remote from such knob. Operation of the device in this case exposes one portion of the shelves or the like contained in the cabinet while operation by another knob placed upon the opposite side of the door will expose the remaining shelves or the like within the cabinet, it

being apparent that the panels also forming a part of the invention will selectively cover a portion of the shelv- J ing or the like contained within the cabinet when the door is moved.

Accordingly, it is an object a novel door construction.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a device of the character set forth, a novel door construction including a pair of hingedly connected panels forming a part of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in adevice of the character set forth, a novel hinge arrangement forming a part of the invention.

-Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character set forth which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and yet eflective and efficient in use.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a device of the character set forth, a novel door and panel construction whereby selective portions of a cabinet or the like to which the device may be attached may be selectively exposed when the door, forming a part of the invention, is opened.

The present invention may also be applied, not only' Figure 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment ofthe invention, 7 I 3 t Figure 2 is a .side elevational view of Figurel taken in the direction of the arrow A,

of the invention to provide 2,783,115 Patented Feb. 26, 1957.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of Figure 1 taken in the direction of the arrow B,

Figure 4 is a reducedperspective view of the device illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, showing the door thereof opened in one direction,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing the door thereof opened in the other direction, Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along line 6- -6 of Figure 10 and showing a'door, forming apart-of the invention, in closed condition,

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6 but showing thedoor in'op'ened condition, 1 I

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional view takensubstantially' along line 8''-8 of Figure 10 and showing the door-in normally closed position,

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 8 but showing th door in opened condition, y Figure 10 'is a vertical sectional view, somewhat enlarge'd, taken substantially along line 10-10 of Figure 1,

Figure 11 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention, Figure 12 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 12--12 of Figure 11, Figure 13 is a view similar to Figure 12 but showing the door in closed position, and f Figure 14 is a view similar to Figures 12 and 13 but showing the door open in an opposite direction to that shown in Figure 12. I 1 Referring more particularly to the drawings, thereis" shown therein, in Figures 1 to 10, inclusive, a cabinet such as a medicine cabinet which is generally indicated at 1i) and which is provided with a vertically extending rear wall 11, a pair of side walls 12, a top wall 13 and,a,

bottom wall 14. A plurality of shelves is provided i within the confines of the cabinet and serves to' divide thecabinet into an upper compartment 16, a lower corn 'l partment 17 and an intermediate compartment18. A door 19 is connected by means of a pair of hinges;

2i) to an upper panel 21, the hinges 2n) being connected to the upper one side of the rear face of the door 19. The door 19 is also hingedly connected by means" of. hinges 22 to a lower panel 23, it being apparent that" the hinges 22 are likewise connected to the rear facev of the door 19 but upon the lower opposite side thereof.

The panel 21 is, as aforesaid, connected to the door 19 by means of the hinges 20. It is connected also at its opposite side by means of hinges 24 to the adjacent side Likewise, the panel 23, while 12 of the cabinet 10. connected at one of its ends to the door 19 by hinges 22, is also connected at its other end by means of hinges 3 25 to the opposite side wall 12 of the cabinet 10.

The door 19 may be provided with a mirror 26 upon Y its outer side and centrally provided upon the outer face. of the door 19 adjacent each side thereof is, a knob 27 i and 28. Adjacent .the hinges 22 there is provided upon I the rear face of the panel 23 a male fastener member 29 which is adapted to cooperate with a female fastener member 32 mounted upon the inner face of the other side wall 12 of the cabinet 10.

In the operation of this form of the invention, it will be apparent that normally the door 19 will bemaintained 1 in a plane closely aligned to the front of the cabinet l0 and that both of the panels 21 and 23 will lie inpatallel planes betweenthe door 19 and the frontof the cabinet- 10. zwrhenp'however, it is desired to open the doc ,A 19 and to'expose only the upper compartment 16, it is only necessary to pull outwardly upon the knob 28 whereupon the door 19 will turn upon the hinges 24 and 22, the same being in vertical alignment insofar as their pintles are concerned. Thus it will be seen, by reference to Figure 4 of the drawings, that the upper compartment 16 will be exposed. At the sametime the intermediate compartment 18 will likewise be exposed to view but it will also be seen that the panel 23 will remain in position where it covers the lower compartment 14.

When it is desired to expose the lower compartment 17, it is only necessary to pull outwardly upon the knob 27 whereupon the door 19 will move upon the hinges 20 and 25 and the panel 21 will remain in position covering the upper compartment while the lower compartment 17. and the intermediate compartment 15 will be exposed, as clearly shown in Figure 5.

Thus it is possible for the device to be utilized in a medicine cabinet and for a man and wife, for example, utilizing such cabinet to each take for his or her own use one of the compartments 16 and 17. In this connection, the knobs 27 and 28 may be labeled His and Hers. The intervening compartment 18 may be utilized by both the users of the cabinet and may be used for the storing of items which are useful to both participants. Thus by utilizing only one knob, one of the users will always open the door 19 to his own designated compartment while the other user of the compartment will aways use the other of the two knobs to expose his own compartment, the remaining or intervening compartment 18 being available to both of the users of the cabinet 10.

Referring now to Figures 11 to 14, inclusive, the form of the invention shown therein is identical in operation with that above described but it here is shown as applied to a refrigerator, the main body of the refrigerator being designated at 40 and being provided with an upper compartment 41 which may be termed the freeze compartment and a lower compartment 42, such compartments being provided, although not shown, with conventional shelving, etc. In this form of the invention there is provided the conventional refrigerated door 43 which is hinged by means of hinges 44 to an upper panel 45 which is adapted to normally cover the upper compartment 41 and which is, in turn, hinged, as indicated at 46, to the refrigerator proper 40 at that end thereof remote from the hinges 44.

The lower portion of the door 43 is hinged, as indicated at 47 to a lower panel 48 which is hinged at its opposite side, as indicated at 49, to the refrigerator 40. In this present form of the invention, the inner sides of both panels 45 and 48 are provided with shelves 49a whereby various articles may be stored thereon as well as in the refrigerator proper.

In this form of the invention, as heretofore described with reference to that form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 10, it will be apparent that by opening the door 43 in one direction, the upper compartment 41 may be maintained in a closed condition by means of the panel while, upon opening the door in the opposite direction, the upper compartment 41 may be exposed while the lower compartment 42 maybe maintained in a closed condition by means of the lower panel 48 thus conserving the energy necessary to maintain such compartments in a normally cooled condition and preventing the influx of warmed air into either of the compartments which may not be needed when the door is opened for access to the other of such compartments.

It will also be apparent that the devices of the present invention may be applied to the covers of ice chests, chest-type deep freezers, medical and surgical cabinets, and other cabinet structures where it is desirous tomaintain aportion thereof in a closed condition when the other portion thereof is exposed.

While only certain forms of the invention have been shown and described herein,.it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device of the character described comprising, in combination with a cabinet having a pair of side elements, an upper panel hinged at one of its. sides to the upper portion of one of said side elements, a lower panel hinged at one of its sides to the lower portion of the other of said side elements, and a door hinged to the free ends of each of said panels.

2. A device of the character described comprising, in

combination with a cabinet having a pair of side elei ments, an upper panel, a lower panel, hinge means interconnecting one side of said upper panel to one of said side elements, hinge means interconnecting one side of said lower panel with the other of said side elements, a door, and hinge means interconnecting the free ends of said panel with said door,the pivotal connections of the hinge means interconnected by each panel and its associated side. element being in alignment with the pivotal connections of. the hinge means interconnecting the other of.

said panels with the door.

3. A device of the character described comprising, in combination with a cabinet having a pair of side elements, an upper panel, a lower panel, hinge means interconnecting one side of said upper panel to one of said side elements, hinge means interconnecting one side of said lower panel with the other of said side elements, a door, and .hinge means interconnecting the free ends of said panel with said door, all of said hinge means having axes which are mutually coplanar.

4. In combination with means defining an opening to be closed, the provision of closure means comprising,

first hinge means disposed at one side of said opening,-

a first partial closure member connected to said first hinge means, second hinge means disposed at the other side of said opening and providing a pivotal axis parallel to the pivotal axis of said first hinge means, said second hinge means being offset with respect to said first hinge means, a second partial closure member connected to said second hinge means, a third hinge means carried by said first partial closure member and providing a pivotal axis spaced from and effectively parallel to the pivotal axis of said first hinge means and swingable into effective alignment with the axis of said second hinge means, fourth hinge means carried by said second partial closure member and providing a pivotal axis spaced from the pivotal axis of said second hinge means and swingable into etfective alignment with the pivotal axis of said first hinge means, and a full closure member connected to both of said partial closure members by said third and fourth hinge means.

5. A combination according to claim 4 wherein, when all of said closure members are closed all of said axes are effectively coplanar.

6. A device of the character described comprising a receptacle having an opening, a plurality of compartments in said receptacle and communicating with said opening, a first panel pivotally connected to said receptacle adjacent one side of said opening and swingable to cover a portion of said compartments, a second panel pivotally connected to said receptacle adjacent the other side of said opening and swingable to cover another portion of said opening, and a door pivotally connected to the free end portion of each of said panels.

7. A device of the character described comprising a receptacle having an opening, a plurality of compartments in said receptacle and communicating with said opening, a first panel pivotally connected to said receptacle adjacent one side of said opening and swingable to cover a portion of said compartments, a second panel pivotally connected to said receptacle adjacent the other side of said opening and swingable to cover another portion of said opening, and a door pivotally connected to the free .end portion of each of said panels, said panels having substantial thickness and having shelving mounted there- References Cited in the file of this patent 1n.

8. A device as defined in claim 6 wherein latch means UNITED STATES PATENTS are provided for interconnecting each of said panels ad- 1,686,819 Kirschbaum Oct. 9, 1928 jacent its pivotal connection with said door to an adja- 5 2,166,534 Rosenfeld July 18, 1939 cent portion of said receptacle. 2,489,418 Jones Nov. 29, 1949 

